Cllr Jane Scott and Ian Frostwick at the topping out ceremony

A £2.8M CENTRE for small businesses near Melksham came one step closer to completion with a topping out ceremony on April 24.

The Evans Easyspace development, in Hampton Park West, Semington, will provide small, flexible units for up to 33 businesses, creating in the region of 170 jobs when fully occupied.

The units are aimed at small and medium sized businesses that are looking to move to their first proper office but do not want to commit to long leases. They can be rented for as little as two months at a time, with phone lines and broadband connections already set up to give businesses the opportunity to expand gradually.

Alistair Cunningham, head of economic regeneration at Wiltshire County Council, said: "Wiltshire has more small business start ups than any where else in the south west and they survive longer here too. But one of the barriers to growth is when you are operating from a back room at home or a garage you don't have the space to handle the bigger contracts.

"In most office spaces you are forced to enter into a three-year lease whereas here you can expand into it gradually and see whether you can maintain that growth."

The 19,000sq ft business centre, on Semington Road, will provide a mix of 25 offices and eight workshops designed to suit different types of small and medium-sized businesses.

It is due to be completed by August and there could be a second phase of development after this.

Ian Frostwick, operations director at Evans Easyspace, said: "We are interested in trying to fill the property as soon as we can because the new rules on business rates mean that if an office is empty for more than six months, we have to start paying full rates on it again.

"We like to think of having clients rather than tenants because we provide them with a service. Everything they need is here, they can move in one day and start business the next."

Leader of Wiltshire County Council, Cllr Jane Scott, said: "The big thing about small and medium sized businesses is that they are the lifeblood of our economy in Wiltshire.

"We want to get away from the notion that we are a dormitory county and encourage people to live and work here."

8:00am Friday 2nd May 2008

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